


Flowers for the Princess

by Bopdawoo



Series: Tales of the Triforce [4]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, hi i would die for these two, my habit of shoehorning botany into everything i write continues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:42:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29144640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bopdawoo/pseuds/Bopdawoo
Summary: Link has a surprise waiting for Zelda once the Calamity is dealt with.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Series: Tales of the Triforce [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/975717
Comments: 1
Kudos: 44





	Flowers for the Princess

**Author's Note:**

> Characters: Link, Zelda  
> Rating: K  
> Genre: Romance  
> Wordcount: ~3100

Link has always loved flowers.

At least, he feels like he’s always loved them. He doesn’t have the memories to back this up, but it’s just a  _ feeling. _ A strong one, deep inside him, that draws him to those beautiful specks of color that dot open plains and forest underbrush. What he doesn’t like, however, is having to travel far and wide to see their beauty. It’s selfish, but he wants to  _ have _ them, to always look at and admire.

So, as he travels the country defeating monsters and finding ancient shrines and preparing to defeat the Calamity, Link starts a little side project: he collects. Seeds, cuttings, whole plants dug straight from the earth, all dissolved into the Sheikah Slate in swirls of light and brought back home. He has Bolson’s construction crew install some flowerboxes around his house, in the front and under the windows, and he fills them with his prizes.

Not all of them are successes. Some plants just don’t like being dug up and placed somewhere new. Others are just finicky with the care they receive: too much light, not enough water, wrong soil. No matter, Link tries again, tries something new. Soaks the seeds in water before he plants them, digs further from the plant’s stem when he takes them from the ground, tries rooting cuttings in soil, sand, water.

It’s during one of these trial runs that Link makes a discovery.

He’s experimenting with something entirely different this time: instead of taking a specific plant or seed, he’s gathered a bucket or loose soil and debris from the forest, sown it into one of the flowerboxes on the side of his house, and left it to grow wild. He just wants to see what lies dormant in the soil. Mostly he just expects moss, grass, little weedy things. He maintains it when he teleports back home, keeps it watered and keeps an eye on anything that catches his interest.

A lot of surprising little things come up in that flowerbox. He marvels at all the plants that come up: weeds that spring up and flower seemingly in the blink of an eye, little creeping vines that thread their way over the soil, pillows and carpets of fluffy moss, a few slow-growing saplings which he plans on returning to the woods once they outgrow his garden box. But one little sprout catches his eye. Deeply lobed pointed leaves, whorling around like a starburst exploding from the dirt. Sticking close to the ground like a dandelion, completely unassuming except for the tiny green bud in the center of the starburst. He wants to know what kind of flower it could be, it feels familiar somehow, like he’s seen it somewhere maybe in full bloom. He’s excited to know what it is, and the only thing to do is keep it and his other plants happy, and wait for it to bloom.

Link wishes he could stay, but he promised Chief Riju that he’d deal with Vah Naboris and he’ll see that promise fulfilled. A hero’s duty is more important than watching flowers bloom, unfortunately. At least Bolson and the crew will keep the plants watered while he’s gone. He bids the men farewell and warps away to the Gerudo Desert.

… … …

Tunderblight Ganon put up the hardest fight he’s fought in a long while, but Vah Naboris no longer troubles Gerudo Town, and Urbosa’s spirit is free. Link is battered and exhausted from the trial, and when he warps back home the first thing he does is collapse into bed and sleep. He wakes blearily, hours later, to the aches and stings of wounds he didn’t get the chance to tend to before passing out. He realizes he’s gotten his bedsheets dirty with sweat and sand and dried blood.

Link groans and gingerly peels himself out of bed. Despite what he accomplished for Chief Riju and her people, he doesn’t feel very heroic in this state. He strips off his armor and belts and leaves himself in soft underclothes as he shuffles around, wary of his knee which still aches deeply hours after the healers relocated it. He heats water for tea and to clean himself up, gathers healing herbs and rags and bandages. It takes a long while but he gets himself decently cleaned up and wearing significantly more bandages, and Link makes his way outside with his mug of soothing tea cradled in both hands.

The sun feels nice out here, not harsh and burning like the sun of the desert. It’s warm and gentle up in the low mountain hills, with cool breezes and clouds to soften the heat. He likes the sound of the wind in the leaves overhead. Link drinks deeply from his mug of tea and makes his rounds around his garden. He really has to thank the crew with more than just words: he and his men have been diligent with keeping the garden watered. All his plants are still lush and green and full. Even his more uncommon plants, which may as well just be pots of annoying weeds to others. He still likes them, even the weeds.

He arrives at his flowerbox of forest weeds and the little sprout from before catches his attention again. The leaves have gotten larger, and the little bud in the center has surged upwards on a long spindly stem. It hasn’t bloomed quite yet, but it looks to be soon. He can see the petal color, a soft white just barely peeking through. Will it bloom tomorrow? The day after? Now that he’s looking closer he notices another smaller bud springing out from the stem.

The next morning, the taller bud unfurls, and he recognizes it as the silent princess flower.

Link is amazed and baffled, staring at the glowing white and blue flower growing innocently from his flowerbox. How is this possible? The silent princess is allegedly impossible to cultivate in captivity; they royal family spent almost four decades trying to cultivate them for the castle gardens with no success. How has he succeeded where years of royal botanists have failed, and on  _ accident  _ as well?

Link gently trails a finger over one of the petals, to confirm that he’s not just imagining things. The silent princess is real and here, in his garden. It’s leaves are a lush deep green, and the glow of its petals is strong. It’s  _ healthy. _ He’s excited, awed, and confused.

The silent princess, he remembers, is Zelda’s favorite flower. Perhaps, if he could just grow a few more…

But he grew this one entirely unintentionally. Could he really repeat such a feat?

Well, he can certainly try.

Over the next few weeks Link dutifully maintains his gardens and slays monsters, watching flowers get pollinated and wither away and grow seed pods in their place. Link frees Vah Medoh and Revali’s spirit as the winds turn chillier, and he scatters the seeds from his plants as they shrivel and die back for the fall.

The Calamity Ganon is killed as the first snow begins to fall on Hyrule Field. Zelda returns, and together they heal in Kakariko Village. By the time Link is healed enough to be independent of the Sheikah healers, the snow has piled into deep white drifts across the countryside, and they spend the remainder of winter’s darkest and coldest days sheltered in Kakariko Valley. As Zelda reacquaints herself with the world, Link quietly worries over the seeds he scattered so many months ago, buried deep in the snow. Are they safe, lying dormant and ready to grow in the spring? Or have they all perished in the cold frozen dirt?

The snow begins to melt, and as the very first sprouts begin to poke up from the ground Link has to force himself not to warp back to his house to check the flowerbeds every day. Silent princesses are slow-growing and late-blooming; the leaves likely won’t even poke up until late spring, long after the last snow has melted. So he takes a few calming breaths and looks around to remind himself that plants out in the wild forests and plains fare just fine through Hyrule’s harsh winters, their seeds eagerly springing to life everywhere he looks. Link stoops low to the ground, and admires a little green sprout that has only just begun to poke up above the soil, seed case still stubbornly clinging to one of its embryonic leaves. He smiles, and very delicately nudges the seed case off and frees the leaf so it can unfurl in the sun.

Welcome to the world, little one.

**… … …**

When he woke up, the first thing outside that shrine that drew his attention was the view from that cliff, sprawling out across Hyrule and bathed in the light of midday.

The second thing that drew his attention were the flowers on the cliffs. Tiny little wildflowers, yellow buttercups and blue forget-me-nots and pink dianthus.

Zelda likes flowers too. He recalls this in one of his memories, out on the plains admiring the wildflowers together. She likes one in particular, the silent princess, and though the days grow warmer and they venture out into the village beyond Kakariko Village, there are none to be seen. She looks so disheartened, even though when he asks she just shrugs and quietly says, “They’re just flowers.”

They’re not just flowers, not to her. Link knows this, and that night he sends a prayer to Farore that his silent princess seeds still ive, waiting for the warmth to return and wake them from their winter slumber. So, as they days turn longer and warmer, Link gets restless, and he starts warping back home. Just to maintain the place, he assures. Zelda stays with Impa in Kakariko Village, and Link warps to Hateno Village. He knows that it’s certainly still too early in the season for the silent princesses to even begin coming up, but he just has to check, so he does. Once a week, he warps home citing some vague reasons, and he hopes Zelda is none the wiser. How could she be? She has no idea what he’s managed to do.

He still worries.

It’s about a month later, when the springtime bloom is really starting and the tiniest silent princess sprouts have pushed their way out of the soil in his gardens, that Zelda asks to visit his house. This, obviously, presents a huge problem. He can’t just ban her from visiting, she’s his princess. And if he lets her visit now, who’s to say she won’t want to visit again? And again? She knows her plants, she’d be able to tell he has silent princesses growing in all his garden spaces.

He asks Impa for advice.

Impa has the audacity to laugh at him.

Well, not really laugh, but she chuckles and smiles over the rim of her teacup as he tells her of his predicament. Link feels his cheeks heat up as he reiterates that this is an  _ extremely  _ serious problem and he would like her advice, please and thank you.

The Sheikah elder suggests they go out into the country for a while. Now that the snow is melting, Zelda is getting stir-crazy with the need to explore the world and see how it’s changed in the 100 years she and Link were gone. She still needs to meet the Champions’ descendants, after all.

A great idea, indeed, and Link knows just the person to help. He thanks the elder and warps away

In hindsight, running full-tilt into Sidon while calling for his help may not have been the best way to ask his Zoran friend. The sharklike Zora very nearly called upon the palace guards before Link managed to convince him that no, it wasn’t that sort of problem troubling him. So he explains his predicament, and as he does a shark-toothed grin spreads across the prince’s face.

Link return to Kakariko Village practically humming with joy, and a week and a half later a message arrives from the Zora Domain, addressed to her royal highness Princess Zelda and her loyal knight Link, inviting them to visit the Zora Domain for a celebration in honor of slaying the Calamity Ganon. Zelda, having been itching for an excuse to get out of the village and travel, is elated by the invitation and requests they travel at once. Link hides his grin and sends a silent thanks to Prince Sidon. The pair gather the things they’ll need for the trip, as Zelda insists on travelling the old fashioned way to see the sights and explore on the way there, and Link is more than happy to indulge her. Whatever needs to be done to ensure the silent princess flowers are in full bloom when Zelda first visits his house down in Hateno.

So they take their time.

They keep the invitation in their minds so as not to be late, but as per Zelda’s whims they detour and stop to investigate any plants, ruins, and monuments that catch her eye. She apologizes, of course, she doesn’t want to male the Zora prince wait, and Link assures her they’re making good time: the festival is still days away after all. They meander their way to the Zora’s Domain over a full week and arrive the day before the festival. Prince Sidon greets them with all his usual enthusiasm, and encourages them to please stay as long as they wish, it’s an honor to host the princess and her knight so please do use their hospitality. As preparations for the festival continue and as the other three Champion descendants arrive, Zelda reacquaints herself with everyone and Link silently wonders how Sidon put this whole thing together so quickly. When they aren’t in the city proper, Link dutifully follows Zelda as she explores the surrounding cliffs and floodplains; Sidon accompanies them when he can and is more than happy to point out the landmarks he’s grown up with. During his moments alone, Link is either profusely thanking Sidon for playing along, or teleporting home to check on his flowers.

The silent princesses are growing strong, and his anxieties start to wane.

**… … …**

They’re on their way back from the Zora’s Domain when Zelda asks again about his house: she’d like to visit.

Link smiles and nods, of course they can travel to Hateno to visit. It’ll be great, the two of them wandering the roads, enjoying the breeze and the view. But then she asks about the Sheikah Slate, how its abilities of instantaneous teleportation across the continent are so fascinating, could they simply teleport to his house?

And so Link has  _ another _ problem, and this one can’t be solved by running to Impa doe advice. Some quick thinking gets him out of it: he explains that he’s never tried teleporting anyone but himself with the slate, let alone two people at once. Who’s to say it would be entirely safe? It takes a bit of convincing to sway her. Zelda has always been a risk taker, but she relents once he promises that they can visit Purah to run some teleportation tests on the slate. The promise of scientific discovery is ever the strong motivator for her.

And so they set off for Hateno Village.

The trip should take just about three days, with their meandering way of travel. Physically, it’s the same distance from Kakariko Village as the Zora Domain is, however this time there’s not a small mountain range in the way, just rolling plains and hills and forests: easy journey. Towards the start of their second day traveling, they hit Blatchery Plain. Link has high hopes the ancient battleground will grab the princess’ interest. The dozens of rusting Guardian carcasses have made him wonder for months what happened here.

Zelda is quiet, and she urges her horse to go faster, trying to leave the plain as quickly as she can without arousing his suspicion.

She already has. The look in her eyes is haunted as she gazes out over the field of dead robots, and Link resolves to ask her about it at a much later time.

The remainder of the trip is uneventful.

They make it to Hateno Village on the third day, right as predicted. Ever the explorer, Zelda’s curious about the village and the people who live here. Link makes a small fuss about how they’ve been travelling a lot lately, wouldn’t she like to rest first at his house, and when she agrees he takes the lead. He makes her cover her eyes before they reach the bridge over the gully to his house. It’s a surprise, he explains, and he thinks he sees her roll her eyes, but she’s smiling as she covers them. After a second, he flicks his hand in front of her face and she flinches.

“No peeking,” he chides her, and she chuckles and adjusts her hands. Now, finally, buzzing with excitement, he leads her the rest of the way the rest of the way, and when they crest the little hill and reach the bridge to his property he can see a sea of blue and white flowers.

Link is not sure what he’s expecting to happen once he lets her look finally. In his memories of her, the princess is stoic but only by habit: there are moments when her enthusiasm bubbles over and surfaces, but they’re few and far between and he lives for those moments.

He’s expecting the gasp of surprise when she first sees it, but not her crying out in amazement and rushing back to hug him, sweeping him off his feet and twirling him around and cheering that you’ve done it! You’ve figured out the secret to cultivating the silent princess? Do you realize what this means for conservation and horticulture? You’re incredible, Link!”

And then she’s off leaving him dazed and light-hearted at the end of the bridge as she flits out into his yard like a fairy, gushing over how healthy they all are and how wonderful this is, and Link just smiles as his cheek heat up. This is the Zelda he fell in love with. Not the princess of the kingdom, but the genius at her heart. And oh, how wonderful it is to see her again.


End file.
